BAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 10, 2017
McNary boys
dominate
West Albany
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Back at full strength, Mc-
Nary did what it does best—
score in transition.
With four players in double
digits, the Celtics routed West
Albany 78-47 at home on Fri-
day, Feb. 3.
The Bulldogs scored the
fi rst basket of the game but
McNary, using a 1-3-1 zone
defense, responded with a
15-2 run.
“We intended to come out
strong and respond differently
than others games because we
were in a slump,” said McNary
senior Adam Harvey, who
fi nished with 15 points. “We
wanted to come out with a
lot of energy and play to our
strengths. On defense, we
were really getting a lot of de-
fl ections on the ball and get-
ting a piece of it and getting
on transition for easy layups.”
After West Albany knocked
down a 3-pointer, the Celtics
ended the fi rst quarter with a
15-7 lead.
McNary then continued to
dominate in the second pe-
riod, opening with a 14-5 run,
capped off by a 3-point play
and then 3-pointer by junior
Lucas Garvey off the bench.
Garvey fi nished with 13
points but Celtics coach Ryan
Kirch was just as impressed
with his defense.
“He really set the tone,”
Kirch said. “You look at guys
like Matt (Ismay) and Adam
(Harvey) and you expect them
to do those things all the time
but Lucas’ development to
where he was at at the begin-
ning of the season to where
he’s at now, he’s playing with
a lot of confi dence. He’s a re-
ally good player. He makes us
really, really tough.”
After McNary entered
halftime with a commanding
37-14 lead, West Albany began
to show some life on offense,
scoring 12 points in the fi rst
fi ve minutes of the third quar-
ter.
Kirch then called time
out, switched to man-to-man
and the Celtics continued to
clamp down on the Bulldogs.
McNary outscored West Alba-
ny 23-7 in the fourth quarter.
The win came after back-
to-back losses to Sprague and
Forest Grove, in which multi-
ple starters were either injured
Clash in Keizer
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Adam Harvey led the Celtics in scoring in a 78-47 victory over West Albany on
Friday, Feb. 3 at home.
or sick.
“Our guys are mature,”
Kirch said.
“I think they were more
frustrated that we weren’t at
full strength for those games.
They came out and we talked
about playing angry early on
and getting back to how we
play. We haven’t really been
guarding as well as we’d like
the last couple of games so
we kind of challenged them a
little bit and they had a heck
of a response. We’re proud of
them.”
The Celtics also easily de-
feated McKay 87-66 on Tues-
day, Feb. 7 to improve to 16-5
overall and 9-4 in league play.
McNary, No. 11 in the
OSAA rankings after the two
wins, have this weekend off
and then play at South Salem
on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 6:45.
The Saxons won the previ-
ous matchup 56-53.
puzzle answers
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Allison Mansur, with the ball, and Taylor Cruichshank play for
the Keizer Youth Basketball Association during halftime of
the McNary girls basketball game on Friday, Feb. 3. KYBA is
hosting 40 teams on Feb. 11-12 in a fi fth through eighth grade
tournament at McNary and Whiteaker and Claggett middle
schools in Keizer. Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for children.
For more information, go to keizerbasketball.com.
EVEN,
continued from Page 10
PURCHASE 1 ENTREE + 2 DRINKS
“We just have to forget
about it and move on to the
next shot because we can’t
do anything about it,” Hunter
said. “Defi nitely, our mental
toughness has grown.”
McNary also evened the
season score with the Lady
Bulldogs, who it lost to on the
road 48-41 back in December
to begin league play.
Handley noted the Lady
Celts did a better job against
West Albany’s size and zone
defense.
“They really tried to pack
the key on us,” Handley said.
“They challenged our guards
to take shots. I think our
guards did a better job this
game of being willing to at-
tack. We shared the ball really
well.
“The adjustments we need-
ed to make was No. 1 ball
fakes but No. 2 if you feel two
bodies coming to you, it’s ball
fake and make the extra pass
and I think our ball movement
especially in the paint got a
lot better in the second half as
well.”
That started with Downer,
who Handley said had the best
game of her career.
“She was complete,” Hand-
ley said. “She was great on de-
fense. She was our best guard
rebounder tonight. She was
smart with the basketball.
She was our one guard, espe-
cially early, that was willing to
dribble drive into the zone to
draw defenders and she was
doing it with purpose to get a
teammate open. She was really
what made us go.”
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503.689.1082
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only, Cannot be
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other offer or discount.
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